A look into Post-Structuralism with Foucault’s ‘Discipline and Punish’ lens

Structuralism is the theory that studies society and its culture as elements within a broad structure. It essentially tries quantifying how people think, perceive, feel, and do things. It believes that the study of society can be looked at in the same way as natural sciences. As the late 20th century approached, and the established faiths and beliefs started changing, the predominant philosophy started changing as well. Many philosophers at the time were critical of the development of replicating the natural sciences into the social sciences since they believed it provided the basis of fascism since fascism thrived on homogeneity and standardization. This is where Foucault comes in to say that structures don't simply come into existence but get established over a period of time. With this kind of thinking, Post- Structuralism came into being.

Post-structuralism is essentially the extension and evolution of Structuralism. This movement believed that to study an element of culture and society, one must analyse the history behind it as well. It believes in multiple truths defining the reality, unlike the 'one truth' characteristic of Structuralism. It understood that with structures, which are quite unlike the consistent ones of natural sciences, other factors contribute to its existence and, essentially, its constituency. With concepts of society, patriarchy, emotions, etc., certain preconceived notions and mindsets with which one could study as it cannot be quantified into a specific, and consequently consistent, element. Like mentioned earlier, the presently established faith would influence the way these structures would be looked at.

While some emerging philosophers of this time ultimately rejected the structures that Structuralism posed, Foucault believed that specific structures were necessary. In Discipline and Punish, Foucault introduces the interesting concept of the operation of power. He spoke about how power essentially means discipline wherein an individual's identity is built upon the power relations they have been living in and how they cannot escape this power or its effect on them. Foucault is broaching upon one of the critical characteristics of Post- Structuralism, which is that structures cannot be quantified and do not have only one single meaning. He believes that an individual's history influences their current identity. When it comes to Discipline, Foucault defined it as power being used in a way that an individual is self-regulated, instead of being directly compelled to follow the system.

Foucault then delved into an individual's body being their power, and how the body's docility, its ability to be influenced and controlled, brought into the picture a new sense of control. The control methods are the disciplines that imply the consecutive and consistent exercise of command over an individual to utilize that docility to their benefit and later into some sense of domination. This is the basic structure on which the military functions. Subjecting several people to this operation of power would essentially imply that there would be no individuality and would eventually feed into the homogenous nature of fascism, which is a crucial element of Structuralism that Post-Structuralism tries to reject. This system gradually led to a structure built upon great power and control.

Foucault delves into prison systems and observes how the structures used in the prisons when they emerged in the 17th century continued as a form of power in our society. Even the establishment of prison reforms has a particular historical context, and that is discipline and punishment. Discipline and punishment is essentially the historical context of the current penal system that is in place.

As Post-Structuralism goes, Foucault decided to dissect the punishment's historical and social context before the current penal system came into place and how the operation of power influenced this evolution. Before the 18th century, it is observed that public execution and corporal punishment were common punishments, and torture was usually a part of the criminal investigations. The punishment at that time was somewhat ritualistic, with it being imposed on the prisoner in public with an audience. Once the punishment is conducted in this form, with the gathering of people acting as a key element in this setup, authority gets re- established. Then in the 18th century, to ensure an efficient operation of power, the reform of punishment came into existence. Instead of torture being inflicted on the individual, it is under the influence of control and discipline. Foucault, observing this evolution of punishment, derives the concept of the panopticon.

The panopticon is a structure that strips individuals of their individuality and provides little to no privacy to them. This kind of system we can observe is not restricted to the prison reform, but we can observe it in the Indian contemporary academic setup as well. It suggests the requirement of enclosure within a protected place- the prisons for the prisoners, the barracks for the soldiers, and the school for the students. This machinery also functions on the principle of partitioning spaces- the cells for prisoners, the dorms for the soldiers, and the classrooms for the students.

The panopticon system makes all the individuals the same by putting all prisoners in the same clothing and depriving them of their personal belongings and attachments. This parallel of all the individuals wearing the same clothes as an attempt to dehumanize them and eliminate their individuality can be seen in the established rule of wearing uniforms by students. As the name itself suggests, the structure was introduced to create a 'uniform' group of individuals, who like the soldiers and the prisoners, are considered docile bodies that they can exercise their control over to bend them into compliance. So the students are required to follow this rule to provide some form of homogeneity within the rest of the student body so that they are collectively easier to control. Even on campus, there are certain restrictions on the clothes one can wear. Since one might consider it a freedom to wear a non-uniform outfit, it becomes harder for them to perceive the power dynamics at play in the situation. Although it is considered only the clothes on the body, it feeds into the idea that the body is a target of power, and dictating any aspect of it essentially results in a power dynamic where they are vulnerable to the school's control.

Directly corresponding to this would be the punishment aspect of this system. If the rules are not being followed, the students are subject to some sort of disciplinary action. To reprimand one student, who has not complied with the system put into place, harshly would automatically reign in the rest of the students. This is how the prisoners in the prisons are also brought into control, which truly brings the basis of our academic system into question. However, this is precisely what Foucault predicted when he said that the prison systems would seep into the way society functions as well. Hence, we can then say that society in itself is a panopticon since it consists of multiple entities that each functions in its own structure of power.

Since the punishment of an individual 'sets an example' of the repercussions of not complying with the other individuals in the same structure, there would be the use of the reward system with the punishment system. These rewards come in the form of grades and validation by the educators to the students. This system is considerably more controlling in a grading pattern such as the grade curve. By pitting students against each other and creating some form of hierarchy with binary oppositions, it feeds into the idea of the hierarchy system to create a more significant barrier between the non-complying individuals and those who are more docile.

The reward system goes hand in hand with the surveillance system, a prominent feature of the panopticon system. The students are never truly given a space that ensures their privacy because of the surveillance system. CCTVs all over the campus and in the classrooms where students are essentially restricted to only academics means that the entire daily life of a student is being surveilled. Even if the CCTVs are not working or if the student finds a place that does not come under the camera's radar, they are less likely to break any of the established rules at the fear of consequent punishment that will come as a repercussion of the same. Breaking the rule in such a situation could also deprive them of being rewarded in most ways when striving for a reward is how they have been conditioned to function in this system.

Another space that is usually considered private would be the rooms in which the students stay on campus. That, however, is under surveillance as well by the constant room checks by residential counsellors. These counsellors were called wardens, showing how deeply the panopticon system is embedded in our society and, more specifically, our academic set up.

One of the significant structures of the panopticon system in our academic setup that functions on the characteristic of complete and exhaustive use of the body is the timetable. By dictating how a student conducts their daily lives, the less agency the student has over their life, and the more operation of power goes into the institution's hands. They have the ability to make a rigid timetable within which the student is forced to function under the fear of the punishment repercussion. Foucault had observed the idea of the body being a part of a machine. The institution thus uses the student's body to its utmost use until it is exhausted only to continue this process every day, considering they have the power to organize their entire life when they are within this system where they are the established authority.

Similar to Structuralism evolving into Post-Structuralism, Foucault observed that corporeal and ritualistic punishment evolved into a panopticon system of punishment. By his study of Discipline and Punish through the Post-Structuralist lens, Foucault strived to prove the rejection of structures within the Structuralist ideas, albeit not all of them. He believed in the operation of power and how the body is the target of said power. By exercising control over the body, current societal systems have managed to gain control over power as well. By drawing the parallels between the panopticon system, derived by Foucault, and the existing societal structures, we can observe Foucault's long-standing belief- society itself functions upon the panopticon system of discipline and punishment.

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References to the book Discipline & Punish: The Birth of Prison by Michel Foucault are made throughout the paper.